Why Train Servers on Service and Sales?

Why do restaurants, bars or hotels fail and close their doors? Despite the popular notion to the contrary, “bad food” or “poor service” never caused a restaurant or store to shutter its doors. The bottom line is that businesses fail every day not because they couldn’t “serve” their guests but because they couldn’t cover their costs. “Service” may create word-of-mouth traffic in your restaurant or bar but it’s making sales that keeps the restaurant or business open and the staff employed. “Service” alone won’t sustain any company, even a “not-for-profit” one.

Service and sales (combined with effective cost control) are what make and keep a restaurant successful, your staff employed and your business in operation. Service is the handle. Sales is the pump. When’s the last time you or your restaurant made too much money? If your answer is “the Twelfth of Never,” read on. And hey, don’t get us wrong; we’re not suggesting that you ignore the importance of service in your operation. Service is the most important thing you “sell.” Service is your invisible product, good service adds value to the purchase, and service is what ultimately brings your customers back.

Nobody makes a “bad” anything, so service is the one thing you can always do better than your competitors, no matter how big their advertising budget is. Selling is an integral part of the service process. No business provides Service without aiming for a pocketbook somewhere along the line. Our friend John “Doc” Gardner has another way of putting it: “Business is what, if you don’t have, you go out of!” Amen

Want to learn more from the best-selling book in foodservice history? Check out Service That Sells! The Art of Profitable Hospitality.